I guess this is more for homeschoolers, what criteria would you use to decide to allow your kid to use a calculator? What should factor into the equation? Grade-level in math? years of practice? percentage of mistakes? length of time to complete problems? Curious as to what different folks on this board think.

I suppose I've homeschooled maths enough to answer... I bought DS10 a calculator when he was 2 and we had an unexpected 2 hour wait in an airport and there was nothing more promising in the airport shop - good decision! It wouldn't have occurred to me to worry about allowing him to use a calculator, though of course there have been occasions when we've joked about how of course he isn't to use a calculator for < thing where the arithmetic is the point >. He's never had a problem with arithmetic, and has always accepted happily that he needs to be good at it with or without a calculator, so maybe this is no help - or maybe this is exactly how to play it! Interested to read what others have to say.

My DD will get a calculator, just a scientific one for now, when she finishes her pre-algebra class. She will get a graphing one when (assuming she stays interested) she finishes her pre-calc class.

I want her to be fluent in estimating what a likely answer is going to be before she starts banging the keys on a calculator because it is very easy to get a wildly incorrect answer with a calculator if the wrong keys are struck. The AoPS pre-algebra has really helped her to optimize her mental calculation strategies so I am confident that she will be ready after she has completed part II of the class.

I am really going slow and steady with my DD, way faster than regular school but probably slower than she could handle. It is one of the disadvantages of after schooling - your kid spends too much time at school and they also need time to just play, read or whatever else they want to do.

Meeting school tomorrow night to gauge their readiness for letting her do the 'after schooling' Maths during regular Maths classes instead - wish me luck folks...

I'll bite as a "preschool homeschooler", haha! I let my DS2.5 play with a simple calculator as an experiment. I think for self-teaching the concepts of arithmetic, it can work for some children who learn through experiments. The key in my mind is to use the calculator as either an early stage tool to intuit an underlying concept or as a late-stage tool for basic computations once mastery is achieved in pre-algebra/algebra and thr computations become trivial or mechanical to the question at hand. Otherwise, I think the student should be the calculator.


Fingers crossed!

I work with math professors and have received conflicting thoughts about calculators. Some like students to do as much as possible in their heads while others like to save time on basic calculations while focusing on new material. It's good to learn to use a calculator well (including graphing and functions), but that's a separate issue.

Personally, I want my daughter to do all standard calculations in her head, saving the calculator for more complex work (complex square roots, logs, etc.). I just think it promotes fluency with mental calculations, although I have nothing with which to back that up. We'll use calculators only for more complex problems and for learning to use the calculator.

It doesn't really matter to me when she first uses it, just how she uses it.

I never had a hard and fast rule about no calculators. I allowed them when my kids did the Singapore Challenging Word Problems books. They loved it because they felt like they were getting away with something. I also allowed them once they got to Algebra I. I had the older one do some arithmetic review after starting Algebra I, and he wasn't allowed a calculator for that. I'll probably do the same for the younger one. They both started Algebra I and age 10-11.

Off topic, but the tool everyone home/afterschooling maths should know about is Geogebra. Fabulous. (My DS does not have a graphing calculator, and given the existence of Geogebra, I doubt he ever will.)

My ds 11 in pre-algebra is required to have a graphing calculator. They will have their finals next week. It is a 2 day test one day with and one without the calculator.

He has done plenty of competitions this year where you could use the calculator.

He got his first Calculator when he took the EXPLORE in 3rd grade.

I guess to answer the question. He stops using a calculator when it is not allowed.

Actually,the greater question has been when to start allowing them to use calculators. In our school, they are sometimes provided a basic calculator once they hit fifth grade level math. Even so, they still do most work at home and school without a calculator. However, once they reach pre-algebra they are required to use a graphing calculator for a significant portion of the curriculum. Obviously, they can and do many problems without a calculator when that makes more sense. Interestingly,my younger DS, due to constant access to a computer at school and at home for his algebra course this year,ended up using software like geogebra in place of a calculator for projects and certain assignments. However, the calculator is still a requirement for algebra and subsequent courses. I have no problem with it as my children have no issues with mental math.

Not sure I understand the question. Students use Calculators more as they get more advanced in math & science. They need calculators vs. their computers or phones because in class & tests because it's harder to cheat on tests using "approved" calculators.

In my son's Algebra II class the teacher tells them when they are allowed to use calculators. My son has a scientific he has used for years, and graphing calculator we bought this year. Some of his tests have two parts one where the calculator is allowed, and another where it isn't. My son will be taking Chemistry next year and using a calculator is expected. Otherwise the homework would take forever, and since it's the science teachers don't care to be grading the kids wrong on arithmetic errors.

ITA with Quantum and bluemagic. DD has used a calculator since-- well, since she was about five, actually.

Sometimes the point of the exercise is to use the calculator appropriately-- that is, to understand the math that is being explored.

The calculator is just a tool to make the background noise smaller so that the math can shine instead, IMO.

Sometimes it gets in the way if the underlying foundation is poorly understood (since students are then more prone to data entry error and to not writing steps down for themselves and therefore don't catch conceptual errors)-- and sometimes it removes barriers (graphing using any other means is painfully slow, frankly).

Seriously-- I know how to do a linear regression manually, but why on earth is that skill a useful one to practice now that I know??

I have worked for a College and public school districts and what I see is there is a problem in the school district level (because of reasons I won't get into here but no fault of their own). Students are being pushed to learn to depend on calculators and not really understand HOW to do math. Then by the time they get to college they are having to take Elementary and Intermediate Algebra to get them caught up to the College Algebra Level. In the college I work for they aren't allowed to use calculators in the lower levels because they have to learn what they didn't in Middle and High School.

Since you are homeschooling you should be better aware of whether or not your student really understands the basics enough to remember them. So that should be your judgment point and if you feel that they are losing the skill you can decide to refresh those skills by telling them no calculators today.

What on earth is a graphing calculator anyway? And why would you need one to do pre-algebra?

Graphing calculators allow you to graph functions. Learning to use them is a valuable skill that a child could do whenever ready to use one.

I should clarify my previous response. I think it's valuable to keep in practice doing basic mental math (e.g., there is no reason to need a calculator to convert meters to millimeters). Simple addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division can be done quickly and easily and I wouldn't want my child to get out a calculator every time she needed to use those.

For complex things, like graphing, exponential functions, etc., then a calculator can be very valuable as long as the underlying concepts are understood. I don't think age matters.

What concerns me is that I often see students who struggle with very basic equations when they don't have access to a calculator. I'm sure they learned these skills at some point, but they just have become very reliant on calculators (and maybe weren't confident enough in math in the first place, but I don't know). I think there is a benefit in using mental math regularly for these relatively simple calculations to keep a confidence and facility with it.

I think kids who are really confident with math find it quicker and easier to do these simple calculations in their heads anyway versus using a calculator; I'm definitely not talking about working out complex problems when much more can be accomplished using a calculator.